Malaysia

Malaysia is a country of gloriously competing energies, and it wears them all at once. Chinese kopitiam coffee houses sit next to ornate Hindu temples next to colonial-era shopfronts, all within a single city block. Step beyond the capital and Malaysia's diversity becomes even more apparent.

Step beyond the capital and the country's full range opens up. The ancient rainforests of Borneo, among the oldest on the planet, harbour orangutans, proboscis monkeys and the bizarre carnivorous rafflesia flower. Off the east coast, Sipadan delivers world-class diving, while the cool Cameron Highlands offer a completely different escape: tea plantations, misty hillsides and strawberries at altitude. Penang, meanwhile, operates as a world of its own — a UNESCO-listed city where street art, hawker stalls and Peranakan heritage collide into something utterly singular. Few countries pack this much variety into one border, and Malaysia rarely gets the credit it deserves.

Highlights

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Kuala Lumpur throws up glittering skyscrapers, sizzling hawker stalls and gold-domed mosques in one breathless, unapologetic rush
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Taman Negara plunges you into one of the world's oldest rainforests, where the canopy closes overhead and the jungle hums with life
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Penang deals in organised chaos. George Town's narrow streets packed with Peranakan mansions, incense smoke and the best street food in Southeast Asia
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Lounge on one of Langkawi's jungle-backed beaches or hop across to the east coast where the Perhentians strip everything back to white sand, warm water and coral reefs alive with turtles
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The Cameron Highlands stack rows of emerald tea bushes across cool hillsides, a world apart from the heat of the lowlands

Hidden gems

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Relax on east coast islands Tioman and Redang. Both are ringed by some of the clearest, most fish-filled water in the region
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Bako National Park serves up a full cast of Borneo wildlife from bearded pigs and silver langurs to long-nosed proboscis monkeys, within a short boat ride of Kuching
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The Kinabatangan River runs deep into Sabah's jungle, where boat trips at dusk bring wild orangutans, pygmy elephants and hornbills down to the water's edge
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Gunung Mulu's vast cave systems swallow you whole. Millions of bats pour from the Deer Cave each evening in a spectacle that has to be seen to be believed
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Ipoh moves at its own pace, its crumbling colonial streets and legendary white coffee shops drawing a slow trickle of travellers who rarely want to leave